Due to a concentrated national effort, significant progress has been made in the last few years to decrease healthcare associated infections (HAIs). However, there is much more work to be done. As per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the results of the HAI Prevalence Survey published in 2014 estimated that in 2011 there were approximately 722,000 HAIs in the US acute care hospitals alone. Around 75,000 of these patients with HAIs died of their infections. Current statistics show that on any given day, approximately 1 in every 25 patients has a healthcare associated infection. Practicing good hand hygiene is a simple yet effective way to prevent the spread of infections from patient to patient.
It is the responsibility of every member of every healthcare organization to learn and perform good hand hygiene practices every day. This course will provide the student with an overview of when to perform hand hygiene, how to use hand hygiene products correctly, when to use gloves, and the current CDC and World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for hand hygiene.